Over the weekend Goa was shaken with the news that a lawyer was assaulted at the home of his client by men in uniform leading to grievous injuries to the lawyer and outrage among the lawyer community and civil society. It has subsequently emerged that the cops may have been provoked into attacking the lawyer after they were physically insulted first which led them to react violently during which the lawyer in question was at the receiving end.
While the actual happenings that led to the incident are up for debate with each side making their own claims, what needs to be stated in no uncertain terms is that in such situations, despite the gravest of provocation, police being men in uniform must exercise restraint. Police officers and constables need to realise that when performing their duties they are agents of the state and not present there in their individual capacities. Situations which the cops in question faced on that fateful day are not unheard of and, across the world, police face all kinds of provocation from a wide range of people, be they protesters, criminals and others.
On the other end of the spectrum, of course there are the police themselves who are doing the provoking, misusing their power, behaving high-handedly detaining people for no apparent crime and threatening to use the power vested in them by the State to the advantage of certain cronies and friends.
While it would be unwise to draw conclusions at this premature stage on what went down during the incident in question, the men in uniform had no right to react the way they did. Assault by a police officer, even though it is more common than it should be, is among the gravest crimes in modern society. The police need to be trained to resist provocation and continue to hold both the moral and legal upper hand. Losing one’s temper just because -- more often than not -- one will get away with it, is no justification.
In reacting the way they did, the policemen in question brought disrepute to the entire force, which, by and large, has been able to maintain a very clean record in performing their duties. Reputation once lost is very difficult to regain and will make the general populace fearful of the ordinary policeman -- not exactly confidence-inspiring for a force that needs the cooperation of the people at all times if it is to remain effective.
In this case, the police not only tried to cover up the crime by their colleagues but also pretended that the assault wasn’t as grave as was being made out to be.
After a public uproar a case has been registered against the accused policemen. It is imperative that the police officers are suspended and the probe -- now with the crime branch -- is conducted in a free and fair manner. The investigation should focus on the role played by the cops as law protectors because it’s a case of the state machinery assaulting an individual.
